Interview – Merchants of Rosewall Director Kevin Hovdestad

Here at Comfy Cozy Gaming, we’re always personally invested in checking out new and unique cozy games. Merchants of Rosewall is one that we got a chance to sit down a learn about. We got a preview prior to it being announced on March 5th, 2024.

During our preview, we got to see what Merchants of Rosewall entails. We also got to see how the work culture at Big Blue Sky Games affected what went into it. The game itself lends from simulation games, tycoon games, visual novels, and more. This allowed them to craft a beautiful world where people can buy and sell from other players. The point is to make their shops the best that they can be.

So, we decided to sit down and chat with Kevin Hovdestad, the director for Merchants of Rosewall. He got to tell us a little more about what to expect from their new high fantasy shop simulator.

Setting up shop in Merchants of Rosewall

Hey Kevin! Let’s start with a question that a lot of people are probably going to ask. What sets Merchants of Rosewall apart from other shop management games?

The biggest thing we wanted to do differently was a centralized, online economy. In a lot of crafting and shop sim games, you’re playing a game that’s local to you; in Merchants, the economy is the beating heart of everyone’s gameplay experience. Price fluctuations, who’s crafting which items to meet what demand, and how people engage with the story and economy will have impacts on every player’s experience.

As the name of the game, Merchants of Rosewall, how does multiplayer work when everyone is a merchant? What makes my shop unique vs someone else?

Every player is going to have the ability, through progression, to hire up to five artisans as Companions. You can have multiple Companions of the same profession, five different professions, or any combination in between. The game has six professions, so no matter how you staff, you’ll always have a need for something you cannot personally craft. Across the over 100 companions, that’s thousands of potential combinations of artisans – and that’s before getting into the many thousands of unique player appearances or near-infinite ability to customize your own shop to your visual tastes.

In a game without war, is there still turmoil and conflict in the world of Merchants of Rosewall, even if it’s on a more personal level?

Yes! As the story unfolds, you’ll learn about how the city of Rosewall was founded, what’s ongoing in terms of political intrigue, and why a world without crime or combat isn’t ever truly free of conflict…

In the high fantasy setting of Merchants of Rosewall, how does magic work in the worldbuilding?

Our world is magical, which you learn as you work your way into the story and its setting. The elemental magics in Mt. Echo (the mountain on which Rosewall is founded) are what enable characters in the game world to experience other people’s memories, which is a core storytelling component of the game’s setting (being able to experience a war through other people’s eyes ends it pretty quickly!) and also the mystery at the heart of the narrative. It also enables certain types of technology-like experiences in the game world. There are no wizards or warlocks here, though – magic is abundant and natural, not a force to be manipulated.

In games like this, there tend to be more personal, romance options. Does romance play a part in Merchants of Rosewall?

We don’t have any specific romance gameplay planned for launch, although some of the Companion characters do have romantic quest arcs and stories to tell. It’s something we’re excited to potentially explore more in the future, though, and we’d love to hear from players what kinds of ships they’re most excited about.

There are a lot of species in Merchants of Rosewall. Can you tell me about some of the more unique offerings?

There are five races in Merchants – dwarves, elves, orcs, giants, and corkgnomes (gnomes so named for The Old Cork forest they originally hail from!). Each race has something unique about them that you get to learn and enjoy as the game progresses.

Do the various races/species have different backgrounds than other high fantasy settings? How does diversity and inclusivity play into designing the culture?

Very much so. We have intellectual orcs, hairless elves, gnomes who historically abhor ‘prepared’ food in favor of natural ingredients, and more. I don’t want to give too-too much away, because there are a lot of fun things to discover as you work your way through the game.

The high fantasy seems to be flipped on its head. What makes the world unique versus other high fantasy? How does that play into the story and world-building of the world?

We wanted to do something in a ‘fantasy’ setting that was less swords and dungeons and sorcery and dragons. What do Dwarves play for sports during times of peace? What is the pinnacle of Gnomish cuisine? Our intent with Merchants was to try something that explored culture, cuisine, arts, and entertainment, and I think we’ve built a world and a story that touch on some of that in ways that are interesting explorations.

Tell me more about the team and what they bring to the table. Merchants of Rosewall is inspired by the personal experiences of the team. How did it affect the realism and worldbuilding of the story?

Our team hails from all sorts of different backgrounds – many countries, people who are neurodivergent, many LGBTQ folks, and more. We have an enormously talented creative team, but we also asked everyone – regardless of their role or responsibilities – to help us find ways to include stories that resonated with them personally. Folks contributed by writing up companion storylines that had elements of their own lives included in them – disability accommodations, grueling manual labor jobs, elder care struggles, and more – in the hopes that while the story is fantastical and set somewhere imaginary, we could reflect on real challenges and help people to both see themselves or understand a new point of view in our writing.

Development of a game often means that some ideas hit the cutting room floor. Are there any ideas that didn’t make this release that come to mind?

So many, haha. Some are things we’d like to come back to post-launch, like having some larger gameplay updates that are ‘unlocked’ by cooperative community objectives that have to be reached, while others are just things we didn’t have the resources to do justice to. There were a lot of additional narrative moments we couldn’t fit in, and there are some social functions (we’d love to let players establish their own ‘guilds’ down the road!) that are still on our wishlist.

What kinds of future updates do you plan to add to Merchants of Rosewall? Does any of the cut content play into that?

Very much so. We’re already looking forward to ways we can help build on the setting and story with seasonal events for holidays, more ways for players to compete or cooperate, and stuff we think would just be fun (don’t tell anyone, but my long-term stretch goal would be pets for players!).

Do you have any tips for players picking up Merchants of Rosewall on day one to get the most out of their shop and playthrough?

The best advice I can give people is to look at your crafting timers. Different professions have different lengths of crafting timers, so in addition to picking which items you want to craft for your own enjoyment or to meet demand, you can also customize your gameplay somewhat with which professions you ultimately hire for! As someone who’s going to play in small bursts when I’m not working or dealing with two toddlers, I’ll personally probably hire more woodworkers or masons than cooks.

Thank you so much for your time, Kevin! I’m excited to see how Merchants of Rosewall shapes up as you head toward launch.

There is not currently a release date set for Merchants of Rosewall aside from Fall 2024. However, the announcement today shows a ton of progress in the game. You can check out a little more detail about the game itself from our preview.